Drawer-guide.



Patented Apr. I5, I902 *No. 697,47l.

.w. H. GERC KE.

DRAWER GUIDE. Application filed Nov. 14, 1901 (llo Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVILLIAM H. GERCKE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

DRAWER-GUIDE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 697,471, dated April 15, 1902.

Application filed November 14, 1901. Serial No. 82,267. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. GERoKE, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented certain new and ,useful Improvements in Drawer-Guides; and

I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to the class of guides for the drawers of various articles of furniture.

A drawer to be satisfactory m ust slide easily and accurately. Ease of movement cannot be had without accuracy or uniformity in that movement. If the guides are sung enough to insure evenness in the sliding of drawer, they are liable to cause such friction as will destroy facility in the sliding. On the other hand, if the guides be made free enough to overcome this difficulty they may by allowing the drawer to twist, as it were, cause it to bind in opening and closing.

- The object of my invention is to afford per foot ease in sliding by so holding and guiding the drawer at all points in its movement that it will slide true, thus avoiding cramping and binding, at the same time maintaining firm and sung control over it.

To this end myinvention consists in a means for applying a constant spring-pressu re to the sides of the drawer.

It also consists in the novel construction and arrangement of the best form of springcontrolled guides, which I shall hereinafter describe by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- K Figure 1 is a horizontal section of the case, showing the drawer, partly broken, and the guide on one side, the drawer being pushed in. Fig. 2 is a similar view, the drawer be ing shown about to be pushed in. Fig. 3 is a front sectional elevation of the case on line a: a; of Fig. 2, the drawer being omitted.

The best form of my invention consists of a strip A of suitable material, such as hard wood. The outer or operative face of this guide-strip is rounded or convexed in crosssection, as shown at a, While its forward end on said face is beveled, as shown at a. On the inner surface of this guide are two staples o in which are freely fitted the ends of a I spring-strip B of suitable material, preferably spring-steel.

0 represents the corner-posts, and D the walls, of any article of furniture. E is the drawer, which is adapted to move into and out of the case'upon the usual supportingrails. The guides A are placed in the case by means of screws or nails 1), which pass through the spring-strip B into the end walls D, and there is a guide A on' each side of the drawer, said guides being pressed and held by their springs, with their convexed or rounded faces a against the sides of the drawer. This pressure of the guides A is a uniform one and serves to hold the drawer true in its movement, so that it Will not cramp or bind in sliding, but will be held snugly while being permitted to move easily.

The rounded bearing-faces of the guides A reduce the friction to a minimum,while their beveled forward ends permit the introduction of the drawer without interference.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In combination with a sliding drawer and its case, relatively narrow guide-strips A beveled at their forward ends and adapted to bear against the drawer sides at points approximately midway between the top and bottom edges thereof, and devices for forcing the strips into contact with the sides of the drawer, each comprising an elongated flat metallic spring B secured intermediate of its ends to the inner surface of the wall of the case and having its respective ends projecting outwardly adjacent to the back ofits strip, and means for securing said strip to the ends of said spring to permit automatic ad-' hand.

WILLIAM H. GERCKE. Witnesses:

WALTER F. VANE, D. B. RICHARDS. 

